Friday, June 14, 2019

Great Stories Can Be Found at Writers Conferences



If you want to hear some wild stories, attend a writer’s conference.  Attendees not only are capable of spinning good yarns that their books emanate from, but they may have unusual takes on life, odd experiences, and imaginative ways of viewing the world.  I was reminded of this when I participated in the Philadelphia Writers Conference this past weekend.

I took the day off from work to hop on an Amtrak train, New Rochelle, NY to Philadelphia.  Some two and a half hours later I arrived and walked from 30th Street Station down to 4th Street and one avenue over, to Arch.

I have been to the city of Brotherly Love many times.  When you live in New York you tend to hit cities like Philadelphia, Boston, and DC numerous times in your life.  It seems like so much of our nation’s founding history and politics come from those three places – and New York. You get reminded of the Colonial Days and the era of Ben Franklin as soon as you step foot onto this city.

The conference has been going on for 71 years, but this was the first time I attended.  The company I work for, MEDIA CONNECT, advertised its services as the leader in book publicity by sponsoring the event.  Our fliers were made available to attendees and I manned a table for three hours, ready to answer the questions of eager participants.

I was stationed to absorb an incoming barrage of wild stories from people who had such unique experiences that often served as inspiration for their writings.  One woman lived all over the world and had heartbreak when dating a bipolar alcoholic.  Another guy was a poet who shared some of his life with me.  Another person relayed how she is transgender, going from male to female.  Each one told me things with such passion and conviction.  To be a writer you must be a good researcher, have rich experiences worth writing about, and have a wonderful imagination, but the key is to be able to tell a good story and captivate people.

Where would some of these people be without their writing? Dead, perhaps.  Addicted, surely.  In therapy?  Probably there already.  Writers sacrifice their lives for writing— not just their time or money but their souls and their hearts.  It is how they make sense of things and justify whatever bad experiences that may have injured them.  Their writing is an outlet, a path to redemption, a lottery ticket for fame, and a way to validate their sense of worth.

I love writers.  They are my people.  They observe, feel, think, imagine, analyze, and visualize a better world.  They help us live our current lives while giving us a peek into the lives we may never get to live or know from.  Writers live for us.  They take the blows that life deals us and puts them into a neatly packaged book that leads us on an inescapable journey.


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Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2019. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent.  This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America.

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